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Michael Ford KC

Silk: 2013 | Call: 1992

"He has a super brain and is incredibly clever. He lives employment law and loves the academic side of things but in a down-to-earth way. He can ruthlessly deploy arguments in pursuit of a win."

Chambers & Partners 2024

"Michael is razor-sharp, fantastic on his feet, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of industrial relations and employment law. His advice is clear and practical and he is excellent with clients. You want him on your side."

The Legal 500 2024

'Michael is hugely intelligent, extremely enjoyable to work with, and has a fantastic ability to distil complex issues into succinct and persuasive legal submissions. He is pretty much peerless when it comes to industrial relations or holiday-pay related issues.'

The Legal 500 2023

"His advice and advocacy are both clear and practical, and alongside his super knowledge in most areas of employment law, he is also the nicest person to work with." "He is extremely intelligent and very hands-on. Clients can rely on him for very complex matters."

Chambers & Partners 2023

Overview

Michael’s principal area of practice is labour law, both individual and collective, and covers pretty much all areas of employment law, including industrial action, working time, trade union law, equal pay, and human rights in the work sphere. His work also encompasses judicial review – he acted in the recent successful challenge to the regulations permitting employers to use agency workers to replace strikers – data protection, health and safety and public inquiries. He specialises in appellate cases, mainly acting for claimants and unions. To date he has appeared eight times in the House of Lords/Supreme Court, most recently in Mercer v Alternative Futures Group (judgment pending) on the protection of individual union members against detriments because of participating in strikes, and Chief Constable of the Police Service for Northern Ireland  v Agnew, relating to the scope of the deduction from wages jurisdiction. He has also appeared five times in the Court of Justice of the EU (all of which were successful) and on four occasions in the European Court of Human Rights (including RMT v United Kingdom and ASLEF v United Kingdom). Michael has over 70 reported cases, many of which are test cases establishing important points of principle or which led to changes in legislation (for complete list, click here). He became a silk in 2013, was awarded Employment Silk of the Year at the Chambers Bar Awards in 2015 and was Employment Junior of the Year at the 2012 Awards. He is listed as a leading silk in employment law in all the main directories, such as The Legal 500 (tier 1) and Chambers & Partners (band 1). For many years he was on the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s ‘A’ panel of counsel, and acted for them in R(UNISON) v Lord Chancellor, the important judgment of the Supreme Court which led to the abolition of tribunal fees.

Michael is currently a Deputy High Court judge, sitting in the Administrative Court, KBD and EAT, and previously sat as a fee-paid Employment Tribunal Judge for over twenty years. He was Professor at the University of Bristol from 2017-2021 (now Emeritus Professor) and before coming to the Bar qualified as a solicitor with Slaughter and May. He was formerly the editor of Redgrave’s Health and Safety and has many publications on employment law and human rights law, including recent articles written with Professor Alan Bogg in the LQR about the Uber judgment and articles in the Industrial Law Journal on personal service companies, the Trade Union Act 2016 and private life at work. He has acted as special adviser to Parliamentary Committees in relation to employment-related matters (e.g. the inquiry into employment practices at Sports Direct). His Advice for the TUC on the impact of Brexit on employment law continues to be cited as an authoritative source in the area. He is one of the editors of the UK Labour Law Blog.

He was once a member of the Great Britain road cycling squad (1982-3) and raced in Belgium, France, Holland, Germany and Poland (e.g. 5th Ronde de L’Oise; 1st Tour of Surrey, 4th Tour of the Peak, 1st Jock Wadley Memorial; 6th on stage of Tour of West Flanders). He still takes cycling very seriously (e.g. 4th in age group in Maratona Delle Dolomiti 2022, narrowly pipped for a podium place). He has First Class degrees in Law (1983-86) and Biology (2007-2010) and is a fluent French and excellent Spanish speaker. For nine years he was a trustee of the Bats Conservation Trust, assisting it with issues on wildlife law.

He now spends his spare time cycling, drinking coffee, learning Spanish and trying to cope with two unregenerate adolescents.

Professional Recommendations

 

“He has a super brain and is incredibly clever. He lives employment law and loves the academic side of things but in a down-to-earth way. He can ruthlessly deploy arguments in pursuit of a win.”

Chambers & Partners 2024

“He’s an exceptional barrister working on matters that have great ramifications. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of the law and is by far the best European employment law specialist.”

Chambers & Partners 2024

“He combines academic knowledge with a great work ethic and attention to detail.”

Chambers & Partners 2024

“Michael is incredibly clever and lives employment law. He can ruthlessly deploy arguments in pursuit of a win.”

Chambers & Partners 2024

“Michael is razor-sharp, fantastic on his feet, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of industrial relations and employment law. His advice is clear and practical and he is excellent with clients. You want him on your side.”

The Legal 500 2024

“Michael is exceptionally bright; a hugely impactful advocate and a fountain of knowledge on all things industrial relations and holiday pay.”

Chambers & partners 2023

“He is extremely intelligent and very hands-on. Clients can rely on him for very complex matters.”

Chambers & partners 2023

“His advice and advocacy are both clear and practical, and alongside his super knowledge in most areas of employment law, he is also the nicest person to work with.”

Chambers & partners 2023

‘Michael is hugely intelligent, extremely enjoyable to work with, and has a fantastic ability to distil complex issues into succinct and persuasive legal submissions. He is pretty much peerless when it comes to industrial relations or holiday-pay related issues.’

The Legal 500 2023

‘Michael is phenomenally bright and has a huge knowledge of anything industrial relations-related. He is a fantastic advocate, with his submissions always being clear, concise and extremely persuasive. He is also well liked by clients and has a good sense of humour.’ ‘The biggest brain in employment law.’

The Legal 500 2022

‘I call him a mini-computer. He just remembers so much important stuff; he is the barrister you need for really big cases to change a judge’s opinion or if you need to change the law.’ ‘He is razor-sharp, gets to the issues amazingly quickly and he is very easy to work with.’ ‘He is a master-mind of employment law. A real team player at KC level. He is knowledgeable, great with clients and someone you definitely want on your side in any industrial relations case.’  ‘Michael Ford is like your own minicomputer on employment law and he knows everything. He is a holiday pay guru and a fantastic appellate advocate.’

Chambers & Partners 2022

‘He is very knowledgeable about employment law and very persuasive as an advocate.’ ‘He has an enormous brain – really incredibly bright.’ ‘His written work is exceptional. He is a labour law expert.’

Chambers & Partners 2021

‘Massively knowledgeable on all things industrial relations-related, and despite being massively clever, he always delivers advice that is pragmatic and easy to digest.’ ‘A tenacious advocate – he wants to win, and usually does.’

The Legal 500 2021

‘He has a real love and an academic’s command of the detail of employment law which he combines with focused and determined advocacy.’

The Legal 500 2020

‘Super clever and has a real depth of knowledge in the employment sphere.’

Chambers & Partners 2020

‘An exceptional intellect who is extremely knowledgeable about the area.’ ‘An incredible brain and an incredible advocate.’

Chambers & Partners 2020

‘A phenomenally intelligent practitioner who has an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of employment law…an excellent and forceful advocate.’

Chambers & Partners 2019

‘An exceptional advocate with a huge intellect.’

The Legal 500 2017

Expertise

Employment & Discrimination

Administrative & Public Law

Health & Safety

Inquests & Public Inquiries

Environment


Recent and current work

Key contacts

Olivia Moliterno

Team Leader
Olivia Moliterno Telephone Clerk020 7269 0477 Email Clerk

Manisha Agheda

Junior Team Leader Assistant
Manisha Agheda Telephone Clerk020 7269 0300 Email Clerk
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William Meade (Senior Clerk)

07970 649 755